Only through suffering can we find ourselves.

What if man is not really a scoundrel, man in general, I mean, the whole race of mankind-then all the rest is prejudice, simply artificial terrors and there are no barriers and it's all as it should be.

Know that I've forgotten precisely nothing; but I've driven it all out of my head for a time, even the memories--until I've radically improved my circumstances. Then...then you'll see, I'll rise from the dead!

The more conscious I was of goodness and of all that was 'sublime and beautiful,'the more deeply I sank into my mire and the more ready I was to sink in it altogether.

If he's alive, everything is in his power! Whose fault is it that he doesn't understand that?

We have all lost touch with life, we all limp, each to a greater or lesser degree.

I swear to you, sirs, that excessive consciousness is a disease--a genuine, absolute disease.